UNITED KINGDOM — Sony has informed PlayStation customers in the United Kingdom that they will no longer be able to watch previously purchased movies and shows from StudioCanal. As of September 1, 2024, affected customers will lose streaming access to 551 titles from the PlayStation Store.

Sony stated that users will lose the ability to stream specific titles, including "Outrage: Way of the Yakuza," "Paddington," "Paddington 2," "Pan's Labyrinth," "Rambo 3," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," and "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," due to "our content licensing agreements."

This development follows previous instances of content removal by the company. In August 2021, Sony stopped selling movie and show rentals and purchases. Subsequently, in 2022, the company removed 314 StudioCanal titles from customer libraries in Germany and Austria.

Additional cases include the deletion of Funimation digital libraries after the anime streaming service merged with Crunchyroll. In 2023, Sony announced plans to remove 1,318 seasons of Discovery shows from customer libraries but later reversed that decision after updating its licensing arrangements with Discovery.

Why It Matters

The loss of access to 551 StudioCanal titles for PlayStation customers in the UK illustrates an ongoing issue regarding digital ownership. This event aligns with a pattern observed in Sony's content management, evidenced by previous removals in Germany and Austria and the deletion of Funimation libraries. The company's attribution of the removal to "content licensing agreements" indicates that user access to purchased digital media can be subject to changes in these agreements, which may affect consumer expectations of permanent ownership.